Just to update the board, I talked to a current player today (so this is speculation), but heard that the current strength and conditioning coach got fired, and that players don’t have a workout plan for the month off during break. Got me thinking, if PU had a bowl game and took this past month to get bigger, stronger and faster for preparation, AND IU missed a bowl game and players aren’t seriously working out for the next month, that by default puts IU behind the curve headed into 18’ and is somewhat concerning.
The firing does show that Allen is willing to make a quick decision if he honestly see’s a problem, and I think many of you noticed before even I noticed that something was wrong with stregnth and conditioning when we had so many injuries. This kind of connects the dots for us. I don’t really blame Wilson, or Allen, but I’m starting to think that the theory some fans have is correct... going cheap may be hurting IU. I remember IU letting Mark Hill walk to Kentucky and not matching that offer, and it appears as if that was a terrible mistake. Deontay Mack (a former player at IU and strength coach), Lionel Anderson, and Will People’s were also allowed to walk and IU wasn’t going to match those offers. I had kind of brushed off the reality that going cheap may cost IU, but I guess this is a clear cut example, and Kuddos to posters who have highlighted that.
I wouldn’t put this on Wilson, or Allen per se, but obviously if this firing is true, Wilson made an error with his replacement for Hill, and CTA was kind of set up for failure in terms of Stregnth and conditioning. That can explain part of the reason as to why our line was WEAK, and why so many key players got injured. I remembered a comment that Ball was essentially doing his own workout routine and two workouts a day, and that sounded a bit reckless to me at the time way before he got injured... sounded like he didn’t really have guidance... and then he was one of the key injuries this year. Now it makes sense, and it’s somewhat concerning going into 18’ that these guys have had no organization for the past month, and no real workout setup. I know that when we missed bowls under coach Hill we still had an organized workout plan to complete when we went home for break, and clear goals when we got back to campus. Had a conditioning “test” to insure that we had completed the workouts. These guys don’t have that now, and it is somewhat a slap in the face to anyone who supports the program and just saw that Purdue took this time to get better, faster and stronger.
